Sunshine board members forced to sell shares

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Sunshine Gas chairman James Hudleston and director James McKay have paid dearly for bypassing shareholder approval and taking part in the company's recent capital raising.

The board members have lost thousands of dollars after last week being ordered by the Australian Stock Exchange to sell shares they bought in March under a $3.28 million share placement. They paid 32¢ a share for 700,000 shares between them, a 10 per cent discount to the average trading price leading up to the purchase. But the directors forgot about ASX listing rule 10.11 that bans the issue of equity securities to a related party without approval from ordinary shareholders.

Being ordered to sell wouldn't have been so bad had the natural gas explorer's stock risen in the meantime. It hadn't. The shares fell 44 per cent, hitting 19¢ on the day they were told to sell.

Mr Hudleston was worst hit. He paid $192,000 for 600,000 shares and then sold them for just $114,000. Mr McKay's 100,000 shares cost him $32,000 while the sale returned just $19,000. Concerned that the events might be misconstrued, Sunshine Gas issued a statement assuring the market that, despite recent share price weakness, Mr Hudleston and Mr McKay remained confident in the company's projects.

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Mobilesoft managing director Tom Simms has been reducing his portfolio bit by bit, selling 5.3 million shares, largely through his Milcoff trust, in 17 trades since February. The trades come as the stock heads for a 12-month high of 10¢.

The Boral takeover bid has not stopped Adelaide Brighton director Dave Barro from paying $119,500 for 100,000 ordinary shares on May 14 and 17, taking his stake to 380,675 shares.

emitch chairman Stuart Simson has taken advantage of his company's wallowing share price to pick up an extra 2.75 million shares. Mr Simson paid $250,000, an average 10¢ a share, for 2.5 million shares on May 19. A week earlier he bought 250,000 shares for $30,000, or 12¢ a share.

The trades could turn a nice profit should the online advertiser's stock claw back to its 50¢ listing price.